HOW TO: Retrieve the logs requested for support when the menu "Contact Softron Support" is not available.

The easiest way to submit a ticket to us is to use the menu "Help > Contact Softron Support" (or for OnTheAir Node, the System Preferences "Contact Support..." button) as all files are gathered for you. If you have an application released before April 24, 2013, the "Contact Softron Support" menu is then not available for you. Make sure to download the latest version of the application, and if it is still not available or you can not upgrade, then you will need to follow the steps explained in this article.

Here you will find information on where to find the requested files for support. To know which file is required for which case, check this article.

!! Compress (zip) the files before you send them to us !!

If the files are too big to include in your ticket (7MB limit), you can upload them on this FTP:

Note: the "~" character that we'll use here sometimes represents the user folder. Depending on how you have named your user, this can change, so if we write something like:

~/Documents/

In your computer this will be something like:

/Users/admin/Documents/

1. System Profiler

The system Profiler file will give us all the information we need to know what version of the drivers you are using, which hardware you are working on etc... If you send us this file, you don’t even need to specify your Quicktime verison, OS, etc... All that can be found here.

To save your System Profiler, you need to go in the Apple Menu on the top left corner and select “About This Mac”.

This window will open:

Click on "System Report...". This will open a new window where you can see all the information about your Mac. To save a copy of this system Profiler, just go to the File Menu, and select “Save...”, and Save the file to the folder where you place all the files needed. Make sure it has the .spx extension, do not send a Text file.

2. System and Console Logs

Note that there may be some changes in the UI of the Console application depending on the Mac OS you are using

First you have to locate the Console application. It is located in the "Applications > Utilities" folder.

You may have to click on the “Show Log History” to show the left column. After having clicked on that button, the application will look like that:

2.1. Finding the System Log the same day as the problem occured

Make sure that you have the first line “All Messages” selected in the left column. Then Select the Menu: File > Save A Copy As...

Save the File to the Desktop, or any location appropriate for you. Give it a name that describes what it is and give it a date + a time at which the problem occurred:

2.2. Finding the system log from previous days

The system keeps an history of the logs for 7 days. Here is how you can find the appropriate logs:

In the column to the left, open the /var/log. Almost right at the bottom of the left column, you will find different lines named “system.log...”.

If you click on the line named system.log, you will see that the dates are todays’ date:

The file named system.log.0.bz2 is yesterdays’ log,

The file named system.log.1.bz2 is the day before yeserdays’ log,

etc.

Locate which Log corresponds to the moment the problem occurred. Then Select the Menu: File > Save A Copy As...

Save the File to the Desktop, or any location appropriate for you. Give it a name that describes what it is and give it a date + a time at which the problem occurred.

2.3. Technical logs of the Softron application

Our applications also store some specific logs. By default, these logs are stored here:

~/Library/Logs/Softron/

Note that some applications allow you to save the logs in a different folder, so you if you have changed that preference, please make sure to look in the appropriate folder.

If you did not change the default location of those logs, you can also access these logs in the "Console" Application as shown in the screenshot here:

Note that:

there will be one file created per day, and that these files are deleted automatically after one month.

IMPORTANT: You will need to send us the system logs also as the system logs can give us some indication on your general system, while the application logs are for this one application only.

3. Preference Files (NOT valid for OnTheAir Node)

Each application saves its preferences to a folder. When we have your preferences, we can make sure to reproduce the issue with the same preferences as you.

If the user is named “admin”, the path to find the applications preferences will be:

~/Library/Preferences

Note that since Mac OS X Lion (10.7), the Library Folder is not shown anymore in the users folder. The easiest to find the Preferences folder is then to select the menu from the Finder: Go > Go To Folder... (cmd + shift + G). Then type the path "/Users/admin/Library/Preferences" in the window and click on "Go".

Each application will have its preferences, and for example :

com.MovieRecorder.plist

com.MovieRecorder1.plist

com.MovieRecorder2.plist

com.OnTheAirVideo.plist

com.OnTheAirVideo1.plist

com.OnTheAirVideo2.plist

...

Copy the file required in the folder you have created to report us the logs.

!!! Make sure yo COPY (hold the alt key pressed) and not to MOVE the file out of the Preferences folder or you will have to redo all your settings. !!!

Note that OnTheAir CG and OnTheAir Node do not store the preferences in these standard locations (see below)

4. Preference Files ONLY for OnTheAir Node

OnTheAir node doesn't store its preferences in the standard location. The preferences of OnTheAir Node applications are stored in the following folder:

/Library/Application Support/Softron/OnTheAir Node/

Zip the whole folder and send it to us.

!!! Do not delete this folder, nor any of the files it holds as they also hold the OnTheAir Node application and many important information that can not be retrieved if trashed !!!

!!! If you delete this folder you will not be able to start OnTheAir Node again and loose a lot of vital information !!!

5. Crash Logs

If your application crashed and you had a warning window saying: "Your application has unexpectedly quit", then it has generated a crash log. Here is where you will find the crash log.

In the “Console” Application, again, open the Folder ~/Library/Logs. In that folder, open the CrashReporter Folder. In that folder, you will see all the crash logs of all the applications that crashed on your Mac. You can easily locate the crash log that concerns your problem because they are named as follows:

ApplicationName_Date_Time_ComputerName.crash

Click on the Crash log that correspond to your problem, then Select the Menu: File > Save A Copy As...

Save the File to the Desktop, or any location appropriate for you. Give it a name that describes what it is and give it a date + a time at which the problem occurred.

6. Other Specific files for each application

6.1. OnTheAir Manager: Local Data source

OnTheAir Manager is using a database to store all the information about schedules, playlists, events, clips, etc... This database is stored here:

~/Documents/OnTheAir Manager Local DataSource/

If needed, zip the whole folder and send it to us.

!!! Do not delete this folder, nor any of the files it holds as they also hold the OnTheAir Manager database and many important information !!!

!!! If you delete this folder you will loose ALL your schedules, offline clips, playlists, etc !!!

!!! Backup before doing anything there !!!

6.2. OnTheAir Live: Local Data source

OnTheAir Live is using a database to store all the information about clips. However, unlike OnTheAir Manager, the playlists are not stored in this database as they are stored as regular vpls files on your disk. The OnTheAir Live database is stored here:

~/Documents/OnTheAir Live Local DataSource/

If needed, zip the whole folder and send it to us.

!!! Do not delete this folder, nor any of the files it holds as they also hold the OnTheAir Live database and many important information !!!

!!! If you delete this folder you will loose ALL you offline clips !!!